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France

We are facing a political threat, a totalitarian Islamist threat that manifests in terrorism. Journalists are defending something which is elementary to our democracy: our freedom to breathe and to laugh.

The fact is that Islamic feminists in western countries, and especially in France, struggle with identity affiliations and fight against multiple forms of oppression that bind them to post-colonial and anti-racist movements.

As the presidency of François Hollande commenced its third year, French society is revealing its profound division between progressive and reactionary stances on gender equality and race issues. The latest protests “Manif pour Tous”, led by Christian rightwing movements against gay marriage were followed by the unbelievable alliance of Black anti-Semitic Dieudonné with the French far-right. “Jour de Colère”, the “Anti-Hollande” protest, gathered together on January 26 the Christian right, extreme right supporters, anti-Islam and anti-Semitic groups.

Fifty years ago, the Parisian police brutally suppressed a demonstration of 30,000 Algerian workers protesting against a discriminatory and racist curfew banning them from the capital’s streets at night. The march was peaceful, but by the end of the night over 200 Algerians were dead and 11,000 had been arrested and detained in horrific circumstances by French police units.

The date, barely known outside France, is undoubtedly one of the city’s darkest episodes, and survivors of the repression and relatives of those killed are still seeking the truth about what happened that night, and full recognition of the role the authorities played on October 17, 1961.